LIVINGSTON – Dr. Ken Tucker, dean of the college of business at the University of West Alabama and chairperson of the Marengo County Commission, has been selected to serve on the Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) Board of Directors, as well as the Alabama Quality Award (AQA) Board of Examiners.

The Alabama Quality Award is the state’s version of the National Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award. Teams of professional examiners evaluate and recognize outstanding organizations who exhibit performance excellence and competitive improvement in the following categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, operations focus, and results.

Award sectors include manufacturing, service, nonprofits, education, and healthcare. Deemed quite competitive, the award is designed to honor those organizations that are using effective productivity and quality improvement strategies, techniques, or practices that contribute to the overall economic well being of the state of Alabama.

The ACE Board and Associates work with smaller communities (2,000-18,000 population) throughout the state employing a comprehensive, three-phase approach to economic and community development.

ACE provides community development programs and tools to help ensure long-term success in such areas as leadership (community leadership and leadership development programs), planning (strategic and comprehensive), economic development (infrastructure, business retention and expansion, industrial recruitment, downtown revitalization), and quality of life (education, healthcare, recreation). Demopolis was recertified as an ACE community this year, and Livingston is in the application stage.

Tucker serves on numerous other boards and councils, conducts workshops on leadership and interpersonal effectiveness, and delivers professional presentations to various groups around the state. A Linden native, the long-time Demopolis resident and wife, Mary, have four daughters, Allison, Kimberly, Lara, and Rachel.